'Mother' arrested after newborn baby boy found abandoned in a TOILET at Sports Direct warehouse

Worrying: Police are investigating after a new born baby was found abandoned at this Sports Direct Warehouse in Derbyshire

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A woman has been arrested after a newborn baby boy was ­found abandoned in a toilet at a Sports Direct warehouse on New Year’s Day.

His mother gave birth at the sportswear retail chain’s distribution unit in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.

Staff discovered the child and called an ambulance. He was taken to a neonatal unit in Leicester, where he was in a serious but stable condition last night.

Derbyshire Police said a 28-year-old woman, believed to be the boy's mother, has since been arrested on suspicion of wilful neglect.

A spokeswoman said the baby's condition has improved.

"A baby boy is being treated at a neonatal unit and is making good progress but is still undergoing tests," she said.

The mother, believed to be from Eastern Europe, also received hospital treatment. It is ­unclear if she is a member of staff at the firm, which is owned by Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley.

The warehouse, which opened in 2005, employs a large number of Eastern European workers.

A spokesman for Derbyshire police said: “Officers were called by the ambulance service at around 11.15pm on January 1 to reports of the birth of a baby in unusual ­circumstances at a business premises.

“We are still investigating the circumstances ­surrounding the birth.”

Sports Direct, which is Britain’s biggest seller of sporting goods, ran into controversy last year after it emerged that it employed 20,000 people on “zero hours” contracts.

Nobody from the company was available for ­comment about the baby yesterday.